New Senate Report Says Women Not Part of U.S. Manufacturing Turnaround

A new Senate report titled "Manufacturing Jobs for the Future" was released this week.  The report says the U.S. manufacturing sector has added half a million jobs since 2010.  During the same period, exports of U.S.-made goods rose 38 percent, according to the report.

But that's where the good news stops.

The same report, prepared by the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, points out that while men have gained 565,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector, women have lost 11,000 jobs.  The report says that women now make up only 27 percent of manufacturing workers in the U.S., the lowest that number has been since 1971.

An International Business Times article about this week's study relates it to another recent piece of research put out by the same body in May of this year.  We wrote about the "Women in Manufacturing" study by the Joint Economic Committee in a blog post at that time.  That study explained not just the declining number of women, but also explained why women might be opting out of manufacturing.  For a reminder, read it here.

These studies remind us at WiM of the work we still need to do to spread our message.

We've said it before and we'll say it again - Manufacturing is good for women!

Three points on that -

• First, women are underrepresented in manufacturing not because they are not able, but because they still believe the manufacturing field is a better fit for men.  The biggest challenges women face when considering the manufacturing sector are the untrue stigmas that surround manufacturing today.  It is not well understood that today’s manufacturing is not dirty, dark or dangerous and it is not well known that manufacturing today is much more about brains than brawn.

• Secondly, in addition to being high-tech, manufacturing jobs are high paying.  According to the Bureau of Economic Analysis, in 2011, the average manufacturing worker in the United States earned $77,060 annually, including pay and benefits. The average worker in all industries earned $60,168.

• Third, women find more than just a good salary in manufacturing.  A recent study by Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute found that women in manufacturing today are pleased with the quality of their jobs and find their careers interesting and rewarding. More than half of the women surveyed, would, if beginning their careers again, select a career in manufacturing.

And not only is manufacturing good for women, women are good for manufacturing!

Two points on that -

• First, Deloitte and others have noted that approximately 600,000 manufacturing jobs are going unfilled in this country. Manufacturers are struggling with the problem of the "skills gap" - employers looking to hire, but unable to find qualified, skilled workers.  At WiM, we know that the problems related to the shortage of manufacturing workers cannot and should not be solved by focusing on only one half of our country's population.

• Secondly, women in the manufacturing industry impact the sector just the way women impact other sectors – positively.  It is well documented that diversity is crucial to fostering innovation in the workplace.  Many recent studies have shown that organizations with larger percentages of women in leadership positions outperform their competition.

So while these studies tell us bad news, they also give us inspiration to continue to spread the message that manufacturing is good for women and more women is manufacturing is good for the strength of the U.S. manufacturing sector good for the bottom line of American businesses.